Starmer tries to talk tough on immigration

When Keir Starmer went on the offensive at Prime Minister’s Questions earlier this month over the issue of small boat crossings, it was taken as a statement of intent: the Labour leader was willing to go on the offensive over topics on which his party had traditionally been vulnerable in the eyes of the electorate. This morning, Starmer laid out his vision for immigration more generally. Speaking at the CBI conference in Birmingham, the Labour leader has warned that the days of ‘cheap labour’ and ‘immigration dependency’ must end: ‘Our common goal must be to help the British economy off its immigration dependency. To start investing more in training up workers who are already here.’

Starmer said Labour would achieve this with a plan to train up British workers, thereby leading to higher wages.